1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to apparatus for interrupting the operation of a copy/duplicator as it produces a first production run, causes it to complete higher priority production runs and thereafter automatically reinstating the status to complete the remaining copies of the first production run which was interrupted.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Frequently it is necessary to interrupt a production run of a copy/duplicator in mid-stream so that a job or production run of higher priority can be processed.
After the higher priority production runs have been completed, the operator must either completely re-run the interrupted production run or re-arrange the documents which remain to be copied, calculate the number of remaining copies to be made in the run and program the copier/duplicator accordingly. In such a situation, there is a problem of possible copy paper waste, operator calculation errors and setup errors. This problem is particularly troublesome when the copier/duplicator employs a recirculating feeder.
A recirculating feeder can selectively make either collate or noncollate copies of documents. As is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. Re. 27,976 and Application Ser. No. 523,610 now abandoned, by using a recirculating feeder, several collate copies of a multi-page original document can be produced by a copy/duplicator. Such a recirculating feeder feeds individual sheets in succession from the bottom of a stack to the exposure platen and returns such sheet to the top of the stack while maintaining the original orientation. After each of the sheets have been fed once, they can either be fed again or be removed from the feeder. Therefore, if the feeder is in the collate mode of operation, and since the copy pages are delivered from the copier in the same order as the original pages, collation of the copy pages by a sorter accessory in unnecessary.
Occasionally, a sheet of a document will jam in the recirculating feeder. If it is wrinkled, it is removed from the feeder smoothed out, and a master copy of it is made on the copy/duplicator. This copy master is then returned to the appropriate position in the stack of the original documents. The operator now must calculate the remaining copies or sets to be made and program the copy/duplicator with this information. In this situation, there is as noted above, a likelihood of operator calculation error.